Cleaner Air Sought

The Cambridge City Council is attempting to strike a balance between what's good for the environment and what's good for business.

Even as world leaders prepare to debate similar issues at the Earth Summit in Rio, local politicians are in the midst of working out a plan to reduce air pollution.

The plan, which focuses on cutting down pollution from motor vehicles, will bring the city into compliance with strict 1990 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act.

Improving public transportation, creating bike routes through Cambridge, providing incentives to car pool and imposing stringent parking restrictions are among the features of the plan.

Cambridge would be the first city in the state even to consider such a plan. As a result, many business-sensitive citizens and politicians are worried that the measures--especially the strict parking regulations--would scare industry away from the city.

"In my opinion, [the plan] would be chasing jobs away," Councillor Timothy J. Toomey said. "I don't want to lead the public on a rosy path that lead to nowhere."

Toomey cited the city's loss of the large biotech firm, Genzyme, to Allston due to parking regulations that limit expansion.

But some citizens contend that putting Cambridge on the frontier of environmentalism would actually be helpful to business and a boon to the city's stagnant economic situation.

"If we really want to be businessfriendly, we would improve efficiency," said Daniel E. Geer, president of the Cambridge Citizens for Livable Neighborhoods. "The argument is that if we take on a leadership role, we'll be anti-business ... That's bogus."

And other councillors took a more cautions stance in the discussion, saying they must examine the long-term effects of any action they take.

"We can't be just thinking about today's bottom line or tomorrow's bottom line, but where the community as a whole will be in 10 or 20 years," said Councillor Jonathan S. Myers.

Deputy City solicitor Donald A. Drisdell said adopting the proposal will increase the number of Cambridge citizens employed in city businesses by 3000, because of incentives built into the plan.

Meanwhile, debate on the specifics of the tentative plan has shifted to whether Cambridge should be the first to adopt such a comprehensive environmental plan or whether the city should wait and work with neighboring towns to develop a regional plan.

"Many feel that whatever provi- sions we make make no sense unless it is partof a regional plan," said Councillor Alice K.Wolf, chair of the ordinance committee discussingthe environmental plan. "But we want to be theleaders and we are willing to take the lead,although we're not willing to be all alone."

The Chamber of Commerce created a Clean AirCommittee to work with the city in formulating theplan. Although its officials support the city'sdraft proposal, they also says that the solutionto air pollution must be regional.

The plan is scheduled for further discussionand review by City Manager Robert W. Healy.

The development of the current plan grew out ofan effort to eliminate the city's current airprotection policy, a parking freeze. The freezelimits the number of available parking spaces inthe city according to the number of square milesdeveloped

The Chamber of Commerce created a Clean AirCommittee to work with the city in formulating theplan. Although its officials support the city'sdraft proposal, they also says that the solutionto air pollution must be regional.

The plan is scheduled for further discussionand review by City Manager Robert W. Healy.

The development of the current plan grew out ofan effort to eliminate the city's current airprotection policy, a parking freeze. The freezelimits the number of available parking spaces inthe city according to the number of square milesdeveloped